


The Best Season

by tuesday



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Immortals, M/M, Modern Era, Public Nudity, Reincarnation, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27414769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/pseuds/tuesday
Summary: "Why are you naked?"
Relationships: Immortal Being/Their Soulmate Reincarnated Through Millennia (OW), Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 13
Kudos: 73
Collections: Fic In A Box





	The Best Season

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jungle_ride](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jungle_ride/gifts).



> Things to know for this: This takes a loose approach to historical accuracy. Augustus is not that Augustus. The soulmate's names give you a window into my sense of humor, which is to say they're all a variation on luck or good fortune, and there is at least one pun in here about that which I hope works at least a little if it's translated into Latin.

The first time Augustus met his fated person, he didn't know how extraordinary it was, how lucky he was to be breathing the same air or that their hearts were beating at the same time. The auspices had predicted good fortune for him, but he hadn't realized what form that good fortune would take. Honestly, he'd thought it was that he was finally being called back to Rome, enough time having passed that he could safely go home. 

Upon his return to his house in Greece, having wrapped up some business that needed taking care of before he could leave, he discovered he had an unexpected visitor. There was a young man sitting in the courtyard's fountain, his head tipped back as he smiled up at the sky. The morning light gilded his hair and his skin, the entirety of which was bared to the sun. His clothing was piled on the fountain's ledge.

"It's a nice day," the man said when he caught Augustus's stare. "Summer truly is the best of seasons."

"You're trespassing." Augustus did his best to look away. There was a relief picked out on the courtyard's tiles, and he focused on that instead of the long, lean lines of the man's body. Then, because he was burningly curious, he said, "Why are you naked?"

" _Am_ I trespassing?" the man said. He stretched, drawing Augustus's eyes back to all that lean, rippling muscle. "And I didn't want to get my clothing damp. I'll dry fast enough, but wet linen is heavy, and people always get so upset when I drip on the floor."

"And the fountain?" Augustus asked instead of insisting that yes, the man was trespassing and should leave now, preferably taking his clothing with him. If he did that, the man might actually go.

"Oh, it's great. Great craftsmanship. I especially like the bird. It looks so serene despite the flames. I wouldn't be anywhere near so composed if I were set on fire. Send my compliments to the sculptor." The man stepped out of the fountain, picking up his clothes but not putting them on. "Maybe I'll get something similar done someday, give it a friend."

"Why were you in the fountain?" Augustus said as patiently as he knew how, which admittedly was not very patient at all. He was also young then. Patience was something that would come with time.

"Why are you in the courtyard?" the man asked in return. "Why are any of us here? There are many great mysteries in life." He grinned at Augustus's unimpressed glare. He started walking confidently toward the andron, giving Augustus an impressive view of his back. "I'll solve this one for you if you solve one for me. Are you Sebastos?"

"I'm called that," Augustus said. 

The man turned suddenly, giving Augustus an eyeful of that even more impressive frontal view. "You're behaving remarkably well for finding a stranger sunbathing in your fountain."

"It's no longer my fountain," Augustus said. Or it wouldn't be soon enough. "If the new owner wishes to complain when he takes possession, that's his business."

"And here I was hoping you thought there was no reason for complaint." The man's good cheer didn't diminish in the slightest. He shook out his chiton and finally began to cover up all that beautiful skin. "I don't, for the record."

"You don't what?" Augustus told himself what he was feeling was not disappointment as he watched that very nice view disappear.

"I don't wish to complain."

"You—" Augustus cleared his throat. "You're the new owner?" Possibly he should have been more involved in the sale of the estate. On the other hand, he really did need to be back in Rome. He had no time for distractions. The new owner looked to be very distracting.

"Please, call me Eutychos." From his tone, Eutychos knew exactly how distracting Augustus found him and was enjoying it immensely. He adjusted the drape of the chiton with slow, teasing movements. "And you? Should I call you Sebastos?"

"Call me as you like." Augustus walked past Eutychos into the house, which was supposed to be his for a little longer yet. "You do realize that you're early?"

"Better early than late," Eutychos said as he fell into step behind him. 

Augustus didn't know how much he would come to agree. Instead, he said in a grudging voice that didn't match the anticipation thrumming through his veins, "It's a big house. I suppose I have the room to host you."

"Not that big." Eutychos crowded close. "But that's okay. I know exactly where you should put me."

*

Augustus had intended to leave within the week. Instead he remained a full month, past when the property officially changed hands.

"You should stay," Eutychos said the day Augustus finally took his leave.

"Maybe I'll come back," Augustus said. He shouldn't, but he was tempted nevertheless.

"Or maybe I'll visit you," Eutychos said.

Eutychos didn't visit. Augustus didn't come back—not until long after Eutychos himself had already departed.

*

When next they met, Eutychos was an old man living in a different city in another country entirely. Augustus was still young. If he'd also been older, maybe he would have been wiser, would have avoided anyone who'd known him decades before. Augustus went straight to Eutychos's house, curiosity and something else—something he wasn't quite ready to acknowledge—driving him.

Most people would have thought Augustus was his own son. He'd made use of the assumption before. Eutychos? He smiled with warm familiarity at Augustus when he showed up in Eutychos's courtyard. He said, "Ah, Sebastos. And here I thought our time was done."

"Not yet," Augustus said, sliding onto the bench beside Eutychos. "How have you been?"

"Good." Eutychos's smile went soft. He tipped his head back, looking up at the clouds gathering over the sun. "Summer may be the best season, but winter's not so bad."

"It's still fall," Augustus said. He placed his hand over Eutychos's, feeling daring. "Would you like to go inside?"

*

That first meeting, Augustus hadn't understood. 

Yes, he'd been drawn to Eutychos. He'd liked him more than anyone he'd met before, and he had very much enjoyed both the time they spent sprawled out in bed together, discussing everything and nothing, and also the time they spent in bed together without speaking a word. Meeting Eutychos was easily the best part of his years spent in Greece. Eutychos had been the loveliest possible distraction. But despite the way returning to Rome had been a disappointment instead of the expected comfort, at the time Augustus had considered Eutychos as nothing more than a sweet memory he intended to cherish but hadn't expected to actually mean anything to him.

That second meeting, Augustus finally realized what he'd missed when he'd returned to Rome, what he'd been missing this entire time. The intervening years hadn't been cold or unhappy, but they felt nothing so warm as walking into that courtyard and seeing Eutychos smile like the dawning sun.

*

"I'm not a young man anymore," Eutychos laughed but let Augustus pull him back into bed just the same as he had every other time.

His hair had gone silver but looked just as lovely curled around Augustus's fingers. The lines at the corners of his eyes marking a life filled with laughter didn't diminish his beauty. All the same, Augustus was far too aware of the passage of time.

Eutychos was aware, too. He thumbed at the smooth skin of Augustus's face. He said, "You really are just the same."

"Are you going to ask?" Augustus ran his fingers down Eutychos's chest, the muscles there still firm. "For you, I might just answer."

"Do you actually wish to tell me?" Eutychos asked. He sounded curious but not like the answer particularly mattered to him. "I'll admit I'm intrigued, but I don't mind the mystery." He gave another of his ever-ready smiles. "I'm happy enough to wonder if it means I keep you."

"It's a family gift," Augustus said, settling fully into Eutychos's arms. "Much of it remains a mystery to me, too."

"Do you not age? Or are you like the phoenix that decorated the fountain of the house I bought from you?" Eutychos stroked Augustus's back, warm lines from his shoulder blades down to the curve of his ass. His hands paused between strokes, lingering on the upper part of that curve.

"I don't age," Augustus said. Eutychos had a small scar on his collarbone, a little nick taken out of it as if by a blade. Augustus kissed it. "According to my grandfather, it's the rest of humanity that's like the phoenix."

"Oh?" Eutychos sounded amused. "I think I'd remember if I'd seen anyone turn into a baby after bursting into flames."

"You die," Augustus agreed. He was young for a member of his family, but he had seen death enough in the decades he'd lived. "But Grandfather believes your souls come back."

"And you?" Eutychos asked. "What do you believe?"

"I think," Augustus said slowly, examining the handsome lines of Eutychos's face, the precious silver in the curls of his hair, "that one lifetime with you is an unexpected treasure, but I want more."

"Then I'll do my best to come back to you," Eutychos said.

*

Eutychos didn't live forever. No mortal did. But he lived for years yet.

When he passed—of old age, in his sleep, Augustus curled up right next to him—Augustus knew for sure: one lifetime was not enough.

*

Eutychos kept his promise. The name and face were new, but the smile was the same. He emerged from the sea as naked as the day Augustus had first met him.

"Great weather for a swim," the young man who had been Eutychos said cheerfully. He picked up his clothes where he'd left them on the shore. "Summer truly is the best season."

"Any season is fine with me," Augustus said, picking his way along the rocks and onto the sand, drawing closer. "But today is a particularly auspicious one."

"Are you an augur?" The sound of his voice was muffled as he drew on his tunic. 

"Sometimes," Augustus said. He did no work in that capacity currently, but his talents in that arena were what had drawn him here today. He arrived in front of the man he was convinced was his soulmate in time to watch his head pop out of the top. "Tell me something. What's your name?"

"I'm Faustus." Faustus smoothed down the lines of his tunic. "And you?"

"I'm also fortunate," Augustus said, resisting the urge to allow his hands to follow the same path as Faustus's. "But you can call me Augustus."

"An unusual name." Faustus hadn't dried off before getting dressed. His tunic clung enticingly to his skin.

"If you dislike it, you can call me something else," Augustus said distractedly. A drop of water dripped off Faustus's hair and ran down his neck. Augustus wanted to lick it off him. "Are you here alone?"

Faustus tilted his head slightly. "And if I were?"

"I would ask if you wanted company."

Faustus looked Augustus over slowly, his heated gaze so strong that he may as well have dragged his palms from the top of Augustus's shoulders down to his thighs and back up again. Augustus felt it as surely as any possessive touch Eutychos had ever granted him. Faustus licked another drop of ocean water off his lips.

"If the company you're offering is your own, then yes." Faustus closed the little distance that stood between them.

He didn't keep his tunic on for long. The sand got everywhere. Fortunately the ocean was right there after, ready to wash the grit away.

*

"Is this something you do often?" Faustus asked much later. "Seduce random strangers and follow them home afterward?"

"Only you," Augustus said. He cuddled into Faustus's side, not minding the cramped bed when it gave him the excuse to stay close.

"When you approached me, I almost thought you intended to rob me," Faustus admitted, laughing a little to himself. "I didn't know how I was going to break it to you that I had no money."

"I have plenty of money of my own," Augustus said. He mouthed at a tendon in Faustus's neck. "There's only one thing I want from you."

Faustus's laugh this time was louder. "You've already had it." He threaded his fingers through Augustus's hair. "You can have it again any time you wish."

"Two things, then," Augustus said.

"And what's the second thing?" Faustus asked.

"Something that I'm sure will come with time," Augustus said. He dropped his head on Faustus's shoulder. "I wonder. Do you know if there are any houses for sale nearby?"

"Are you planning to stay a while?" Faustus didn't sound particularly invested. That, too, would come with time.

"I am," Augustus said. He planned to remain for as long as Faustus would have him, though it was probably too early to express such sentiments. That was fine. Augustus was old enough now to understand the benefits of patience. He'd waited years and years for his phoenix, and he would happily wait years more.

*

Faustus was happy to have Augustus stick around for longer than Augustus was actually able to stay. After twenty years living together in that lovely seaside city, Faustus turned to Augustus one night and ran his thumb along Augustus's unlined mouth. 

"You still have such a youthful face. I'd almost think you don't age," Faustus said.

"I don't," Augustus said. He had never intended to hide this from Faustus, though he hadn't expected to have this conversation as they were getting ready for bed.

Faustus was quiet. His expression was contemplative, verging on troubled. "I'm not the only one who's noticed."

Augustus took his time in responding. When he was ready, he said, "If I left, would you come with me?"

"I want to," Faustus said, which wasn't an agreement. 

Faustus had responsibilities, not least of which was to Camilla, his youngest sister, whose husband had recently died, as well as the growing child he'd left behind. Faustus's fortunes had turned around from his youth, and he'd agreed to help support them. Augustus had been enjoying the chance to help to raise a child, an opportunity he'd never expected to experience himself. He was enjoying it less now.

"We could bring your family with us," Augustus offered.

Faustus laughed, a short, unhappy sound. "I can tell you now that _they_ would not want to go."

Yes. That was about what Augustus expected.

"When your niece is grown," Augustus said, sliding into bed like this was just another night and his heart wasn't heavy with their approaching parting, "come find me in Rome."

"In twenty years or so," Faustus said in return, sliding in right next to him, "come back and pretend to be your own son. We can scandalize the neighbors even more than we do now."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Augustus said. "Until then, you can visit Rome whenever you have the time."

"You're obsessed with getting me to leave the coast," Faustus groused as he tangled their legs together. He ran his fingers through Augustus's hair. "Fine. Give me a few years, and I'll come find you for a visit. I'll give you twenty to come back."

*

Faustus didn't. There was a war with Carthage. Only Faustus's niece survived to greet Augustus's early arrival.

"You're the man who lived with my uncle," Cecilia said. Her clothes were smeared with soot. She had no shoes.

"Yes." Augustus crouched down by this dirty child, the only treasure his lover had left to him. It was cruel, but in that moment he would have traded her for Faustus in a heartbeat. "Do you have any other family you can go to?"

Cecilia shook her head.

"How would you like to come with me to Rome?" Augustus asked.

It turned out at least one of Faustus's family members was willing. All it took was an invasion and the burning of the only home she'd ever known.

*

Cecilia was an old woman when Augustus met his soulmate next. It was a period of unrest, but Augustus was always willing to make the time to see her. They'd come a long way from the dirty, shoeless child and the only person who could take her. They'd also moved past a reluctant adoptive father and the shy, clinging daughter whose affections had been bought for the price of a new pair of shoes. Augustus was greeted with all the warmth of a favored grandchild newly returned home, Cecilia turning away from where she had been haranguing someone who was lying in the impluvium with his head tipped up toward the rain.

"Augustus! Come in, come in." Cecilia turned back to the young man next to her and said, "Bonifatius, I don't care how much you've had to drink, that is not a bath."

"Is that your new grandson?" Augustus asked. He was hoping for a no, though not for the reasons Cecilia might hope to give one.

"Cassia has better taste than that," Cecilia said scornfully as though that wasn't the most beautiful man in the world stretched out in her atrium collecting rainwater in his perfect hair. "No, this lush is one of her husband's terrible friends. He's not the worst of them, but only because there's so much competition."

"It's summer, the best of all possible seasons," Bonifatius said. He wasn't smiling, but Augustus _knew_ him. "Why is it raining so much?"

"Because it's summer," Cecilia said. "Now get out of the draining pool and get dressed. We have guests."

"I'm a guest," Bonifatius said.

"Yes. The worst guest."

Bonifatius finally smiled, a little glimpse of sun in the middle of all the rain coming down around him. "But I'm still your favorite, right?"

"Absolutely not."

"You can be my favorite," Augustus said.

Cecilia looked from Bonifatius to Augustus. That stare indicated that maybe Augustus was slipping in his favored grandchild treatment. As Augustus had survived raising her, he knew he would also survive this.

"You have better taste than that," Cecilia said, a note of horror threading through her voice.

"I promise you that I'm very discriminating," Augustus said, keeping his eyes firmly on Bonifatius. Indeed, there was only the one person for him now. "What do you say, Bonifatius? Would you like to come out of the impluvium?"

Bonifatius leaned back. He offered, "Why don't you join me?"

Despite Cecilia's protests, Augustus did, sitting side by side in the rain until she gave up and left them to it.

*

Whether by chance or by following the auspices, Augustus met his soulmate again and again. It was never enough; it was always more good fortune than any one person deserved. Every lifetime, Augustus lost him. At least once a century, sometimes more, Augustus found him again. Day by day, Augustus learned patience and gratitude.

Good fortune was a phoenix brightly burning. On even the coldest night, Augustus anticipated the warmth of the flame.

*

There was a college student skinnydipping in the canal. The sun beat down on his laughing face.

"Fortuno! Fortuno, you win the dare! I concede! You're far more foolish than we ever thought you'd be." A cohort of his classmates stood at the edge of the canal, shouting at him.

"Do you know how dirty it is in there?" another cried. "Come out! You're going to get arrested!"

"This is how summer should start!" Fortuno called back. "The water's great! You can join me. Some light swimming is the best way to unwind after finals."

"That boat's going to hit you!" someone yelled.

Augustus, who was steering the boat, did not let it hit Fortuno. He glided it to a halt a couple meters away. He leaned over the side and said, "If you really want to swim, I have a pool at my place."

"Really?" Fortuno asked.

"Fortuno! Don't you dare go home with some random stranger!" one of Fortuno's classmates said.

"I dare!" Fortuno called back and clambered up the side of the boat with Augustus's help. He turned his bright smile on Augustus and said, "What's your name? They can't complain if we're not strangers."

"Call me Agostino," Augustus said.

"I'll call you whatever you'd like," Fortuno said with a wink. "Where are we headed? We should probably get going. I think Antonio's so worried because Franco called the cops after I threw my boxers at him, so a fast exit is better than a slow one."

"And yet you were in no hurry before," Augustus said, though he got the boat in motion instead of enjoying the lovely view beside him.

"I didn't want him to think he'd won," Fortuno said.

"At least take your clothes!" someone howled after them.

Augustus did not go back for Fortuno's clothes. He steered the boat and hummed happily to himself. 

"Truly, summer is the best season," Fortuno said, sprawling out on the bench without shame.

Augustus smiled. "I agree."


End file.
